@Surender

This is an important question which I too have been thinking about in recent times. So, penning down a few thoughts on AGMs in general. Writing about individual events and experiences will make this too long a post.

Indeed, in some cases the answer to your question is quite straightforward. When a company does not hold quarterly concalls, AGM provides the only formal opportunity to interact with the management and learn more about the business. The utility of AGM in such instances is unquestioned. Some managements are very forthcoming, even appreciate others taking interest in their business. Others may not speak on their own, but we as investors need to ask relevant questions and make them speak. Some may not speak even then, but we have to take our chances.

From that perspective, life was much better in the era of physical AGMs. Investors & managements could meet face to face, interact and even know each other. Besides the formal Q & A sessions, a lot could be gained by meeting the managements on the sidelines of the event – over high tea or lunch, or simply by walking up to the stage after the event and starting a conversation. I attended several AGMs during the period 2017-19 and most of them were fruitful. On several occasions I had long – even 30-to-45-minute conversations with promoters / managements of companies which gave deep insights into the business and the industry in general – the kind of opportunity I would never have got otherwise. Some notable names I remember are Vinati Organics, Ambika Cotton and Orient Refractories.

Your personality and style of investing also matters. I like to get a “feel” of the management, use my intuition and instinct. In doing so, there is nothing like meeting the management in person and talking to them. Of course, friendliness and niceties can be faked but the key lies in not losing your objectivity, being able to link confirming & contradictory evidence and join the dots. I have many occasions where such intuition has helped – not just to invest, but even to stay away from or exit the stock.

With AGMs going online, this opportunity is unfortunately gone forever. AGMs are short and crisp, more structured, and formal. But even here, it is upto the investors to put managements to test. Many of them do respond in the right spirit – see this, for example. But yes, the power equation is now decisively in favour of managements.

Managements can reduce the AGMs to a farce, if they want to. Some do not let shareholders speak, while many others avoid answering select questions. But there is a learning in this too. It still tells you something about the management, and so I would rather have an AGM than not. After all, not every management is like that. For every Indiamart, there is a Pricol out there.

So, for companies holding quarterly concalls, the utility of an AGM is less but not entirely zero. You can always have some questions to ask, you never know everything that is there to know.

Unfortunately, I find serious investors shying away from attending AGMs, leaving the field open for Yusuf Rangwalas and Lekha Shahs of the world. This has given the managements an excuse to belittle the event and reduce it to mere formality. I personally don’t think spending an hour or two with your shareholders (partner owners) once a year is too much to ask for. But the onus to prove the relevance of the AGM lies with the investors, not with the managements. I therefore try to attend as many AGMs as possible, and ask questions wherever I have some. I wish others did the same.

For the AGMs you attended, what was your contribution – that is what you should think of.

Thanks.

” Govt allows sugar mills and distilleries to make rectified spirits and ENA from juice and B-heavy molasses”.

In my opinion , it should be good for sugar stocks. Now, sugar companies can cater to different industries and different applications where rectified spirits and ENA is used.
Any views, pls

Kunal Shah (Founder, Cred) & Shailendra Singh (PeakXV MD) on Business Models & Moats

1. Capital is not a moat most of the time, until it is a few times. So capital can be a deterrent, a moat is basically a deterrent. If your competitor raises $500 billion and is hell bent on discounting, other people will be scared to enter your market and territory and so on.

2. The way to think about moats is, no moat is permanent and no moat can give you a multi-decade advantage, but moat gives you a point in time advantage to build a company. Like all models will eventually get copied, and Kunal and I always say this, ‘Rarely are there any new ideas.’

3. A lot of things will happen through serendipity. Most people are not mentally ready to embrace serendipity, which is that there is that accidental innovation in every company. You thought you were doing X, but the second, third order effect that you did not expect suddenly starts to play out

4. One of the underrated things about improving decision making is time to think, because long-term decisions are scary, and you need time to think and mull over it and sleep over it for it to get formed in your head. And most people are just way too busy to make great decisions

5. Many times we do not like random curiosity… You will find extraordinarily great ideas that you can apply… One practice that you should do across the company is to understand other businesses by letting the team present, ‘Well, why don’t you deep dive on Stripe, why don’t you deep dive on Peloton. Why don’t you deep dive on something else?’ And then, end the session by asking, ‘What can we apply from this in our business?

6. Every single customer, every single employee, every single investor, regulator, anybody you deal with, are all humans. And unless you do not spend time and understand how human behavior works, you will nearly not progress much. And don’t rely on instincts to figure this out. There is enough science out there to understand how humans behave how humans get motivated to do what they do, and how humans change their behavior

7. Attachment is a great way to find the most important decisions to make. Detachment is a great way of building a good conviction on decisions I should make because attachment will never allow you to make good decisions.

8. We are only as good as our next decision… Everything, all of our success, everything we did yesterday is in the past. But today, if you look to the future, you’re only as good as your next decision

9. Every single company is a FinTech company. If you have not figured it out by now. My request is to process every single company. Gaming companies are extraordinary FinTech companies. They run on the coin economy as a core concept and they hire economists who run the best games.

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Kunal Shah & Shailendra Singh on Business Models & Moats

I am a big fan of your reads that you share here. I’ve noticed that you’ve an eclectic reading repository. if I may ask, from where do you find such gems?